May 5, 2021
By: Local Govt. Ministry Comm. Unit
Bombali District Council Hall, Makeni City, 30 April, 2021- The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) has held a day retreat for Regional/ Provincial Administrative Staff across Sierra Leone on the theme: “Strengthening Regional/ Provincial Administration for Effective Service Delivery”.
The retreat which targeted Resident Ministers, Provincial Secretaries, District Officers and Central Chiefdom Administrative Clerks was chaired by the Deputy Minister of MLGRD, Melrose Karminty.
In his keynote address, the Minister of MLGRD, Tamba John Slyvanus Lamina, stated that amongst other objectives, the retreat geared towards having a consensus agreement around areas of Chiefdom Governance, the formation of Provincial Advisory Group, and the issue of timely reporting, accountability and transparency. He added by urging all and sundry to view the retreat as an open space for discussion of pertinent issues bordering around their jobs.
Minister Lamina admitted that there are challenges with the very structure of the Ministry, adding that according to the consultants that are currently working on its Five-year strategic plan, the Ministry’s structure is no longer fit for purpose and needs a complete overhaul. “The MLGRD structure lacks coherent, institutional capacity with colonial era elements sitting along side the first stages of donor led initiatives, while critical functions such as rural development, strategy and policy have defectively been allowed a very little room to man-oeuvre,” he emphasized.
He observed that because of the poor structure of the Ministry and the little or no action been taken over the years to address same, the challenges have cascaded down to the Councils and regional/ Provincial Administration which in turn have caused a disconnect between the two.
“The five years strategic plan which I believe will address the structural challenge of the Ministry is almost completed. Today, we have an open space to discuss and deliberate on issues that face us. We don’t want this retreat to be a platform for mourning, but we want it to be a stage where we would develop tangible outcomes that will be used to address our challenges,” he appealed.
He furthered that even though there are mirad of challenges faced with all sectors of the Ministry, but steps need to be taken to address certain mishaps within the Provincial and Regional Administration. Among other things, he cited the issue of timely reporting of incidences, over bloating of TA lists, unreasonable fines levied by Local Court Chairmen and Paramount Chiefs that request for Cows as requirements for Section Chieftaincies Elections.
He announced that both the Provincial Secretaries and District Officers are going to benefit from the vehicles that are going to be procured for Paramount Chiefs. He ended by stating that the New Direction’s Government of President Bio has a vision of transforming the local governance system of this country and entreated all Regional and Provincial Staff to come onboard in making that happen.
The Minister of Internal Affairs, David Maurice Panda-Noah, expressed delight to be part of the retreat and assured his Ministry’s commitment to always provide security for all activities of local government ministry including Paramount Chieftaincy Elections, Declarations, among others.
He highlighted unresolved issues which he said are undermining peace and stability of certain Communities including numerous petition cases, disputes between Paramount Chiefs and section chiefs, land, bush and boundary disputes, illicit mining, excesses of secret societies amongst others.
“As a security Sector, we are concerned about these developments as we are trying to sustain our hard won peace,” he stated whilst calling on the MLGRD and all other stakeholders involved to try and settle the above issues as they have tendency of making communities unstable.
Many other dignitaries including the Head of Civil Service and Secretary to Cabinet, the Chairman Council of Paramount Chiefs, Resident Ministers and the Permanent Secretary of MLGRD gave meaningful contributions during the retreat. The presentation segment was opened by the Director of Local Government, Brima Newman Combey, who gave an outstanding presentation on Local Governance system in Sierra Leone.